El Misti is an active volcano with a towering symmetrical cone, located ten miles northeast of the city of Arequipa. It is one of three large volcanoes that can be seen from downtown, the others being Chachani (19,960 ft.) and Pichu Pichu (18,372 ft.). El Misti plays an important part in many old Peruvian legends, and many Incan ruins exist today on the mountain's summit. The summit also holds more contemporary emblems, such as an iron cross erected by a bishop in 1900 to replace an earlier cross that had disappeared sometime after its being erected in 1787. The ascent of El Misti is non-technical, as is evidenced by its first recorded ascent, which was made on muleback.